What Was YOUR First Tool Set?

"Snap-On" means "fasten your seat belts, it's going to be an expensive ride".
Even old, OLD Snap-On stuff is expensive. The "B-3" original 1920s Snap-On kit like this went for $600
on Ebay?
I was low bidder, obviously.
Here is my recreation: metal case, not wood..
Early automotive tool manufacturers with dismountable socket systems had MANY square drives. 1/4, 5/16, 3/8, 7/16, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 7/8 and 1" and bigger.
This set has Snap-On's early 1/2" and 5/8" drive stuff. 1920s-1930s.

Well my EZlugwrench came and has a casting flaw and the start of a crack so he says he will send another one. Typical off shore junk, can't even make a good casting, or at least weed out the bad ones. It did work, and I'll be glad to have it when I travel off the beaten path with disk wheels. All the more reason to have spokes.
Casting had some sort of "inclusion" in the metal, sand or other impurity.
As for the working of it, it does do what it says, but I wonder if the casting will stand up to the load. Really needs to be made from ductile cast iron like a C clamp.

Got a present in the mail today. Hilarious and ultra-cool.
It's a "MOSCO Garage Tools and Lamp Connectors" puller. Gotta be 1910-ish?
See if you agree.

The stuff that dreams are made of: 1920s Snap-On service kit without tools on Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1927-Sn ... 1438.l2649

MM, check this one out. That is about $50usd.
https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/rch/tls ... 80610.html

Nikki, I went crazy and bought the Frank Mossberg sets like this. The last one even had stamped-steel spanners.
I MAY have Duro/ Indestro, Blackhawk, Hinsdale, Walden Worcester, BOG versions. Maybe some other really obscure ones, too.
Chicago sure seems to have been a hotbed of tool manufacture 100 years ago.
My eyes popped out when I saw the first old pressed-steel-socket set.

Free shipping on this ancient engine boring set.
You bored these early cylinders by hand! No motors!

Looks to be complete. I have no idea how it centers and stays square to the bore. Old engines were relatively slow-operating. Low RPM. Maybe absolute accuracy wasn't so important? Piston to cylinder wall clearances were certainly looser.

I have the larger set, also. I'm guessing 100 years old.

I bought this SK sprag clutched driver about 20 years ago. It was expensive at $145+. I like the folding handle for extra leverage. The sprag clutch offers no perceivable resistance, in reverse, so there is little or no chance of a fastener rotating back and forth. The long extension telescopes into the handle and the 1/4" drive adds the option of adding extensions. This driver remains my all time favorite and I protect it.
I put my favorite stickers on fridge-magnet material. The magnet sheet is available at most printing shops and Staples.

You are always at the forefront of stuff, Nikki!
'Fridge magnet material...in bulk. I will go get some.

Earlier this year I purchased (from England) this really cool and rare Williams tool merchandiser metal cabinet. I got it off Ebay. The story is that I was really anxious to get it home but had no idea how long it would take to travel 8k miles or whatever the distance is.
Somewhere here in the USA in a USPS warehouse it got LOST. Or at least backed up in customs. It was off the "radar" for more than a month. I had given up. Ebay gave me a full refund even though I specifically asked for the ITEM and not the money. The seller was besides herself.
One morning after I had long given up my local PO called and said "come get it". I nearly took a day off work I was so happy.
Here it is bolted to my garage wall. I've never seen another like it. I suspect 80 years old. GREAT orange patina!

I was digging around the shop today and I found this big "C" clamp. My Dad made this in his shop in 1937-8.